Great news, a good friend or family member has invited you to a beach wedding. These affairs are one of our favorites, as they tend to be laid-back and fun. But do you have to sweat through the entire ceremony and reception in a dark suit? Or do you have to don sandals and linen pants? It can be difficult to pull off a polished and gentlemanly look when it’s hot and sandy. With this in mind, we’ll review beach wedding attire for men to carry your gentlemanly appeal while keeping yourself cool.
First, we will acknowledge the three different types of beach wedding attire – beach casual, cocktail attire, and dressed-up.
Usually if the ceremony is on the beach (in the sand), it will fall into the beach casual territory. If the ceremony is indoor or on a non-sand surface in a hotel or other venue that is sand adjacent, it’s likelier to be either cocktail attire or dressed-up. In this case, the invitation should give an indication. For today, we will explore beach casual options.
What is a “Beach Casual” Wedding?
Whether you’re at a resort, in the sand off a beachside hotel, or in a temporary setup, any wedding on the sand will likely have a beach casual dress code. In this scenario, the groom may or may not be wearing a tuxedo (usually not), and the groomsmen are definitely not wearing tuxes.
You want to give off a breezy and casual vibe without underdressing for the importance of the event. You also do not want to overheat. For these weddings you want to stick mostly to linen, seersucker, lightweight cotton, and tropical wool, or any blends of these fabrics.
Ideally you want to fit in with the beach surroundings. You shouldn’t just wear your normal dress clothes or business casual work clothes to a beach wedding – this will leave you uncomfortable and out of touch with the laid back spirit of the event. This article will give more details about what to expect.
Key Pieces
Sport coat
Including one is an easy way to dress up the look a bit. It’s totally optional though. You can always ditch the coat if it feels too dressy or gets too hot. Best “beachy” colors are light grey, tan/beige, or light/medium blue. The fabric should be lightweight cotton, a cotton-linen blend, linen, or a tropical wool/linen/cotton blend. You want to keep the coat itself unstructured, meaning little or no lining and padding – this keeps the vibe relaxed and your body cooler. While linen sport coats do wrinkle a bit, it’s part of the breezy charm.
Shirt
Long or short sleeve linen, linen-cotton blends, or lightweight cotton fabrics (like seersucker or madras) work well. You can go with a full button-down or even a dressier polo shirt (would recommend a sport coat over the polo to dress it up a tad). Your shirt doesn’t have to be white or light blue – feel free to add some color to your look without going over the top. If the shirt isn’t too long, you can leave it untucked if you think the vibe is right.
Pants
Keep these light and breezy! Linen, linen-blends, lightweight cotton chinos, tropical wool… all of these will keep you from overheating. Lighter colors will match the occasion better, think white, stone, light grey, beige, or light/medium blue. If you are so bold, you can go with something more colorful like salmon, bright yellow, or sage green.
The fabric and color of your pants will make or break your beach wedding attire for men – get this garment right and everything else will fall into place.
Some people say it’s ok to wear shorts to a beach wedding. We disagree. Even if the event is very casual, you can at least pull out a pair of pants for the occasion.
Shoes
You can keep it relatively casual with loafers (suede or leather) or casual dress shoes (like suede or leather derbies/bluchers). Leave the formal dress shoes at home in favor of something more relaxed and sand friendly. I would recommend against sandals unless you really insist (and your feet aren’t nasty). Espadrilles?… maybe. Plain white sneakers?… Could work with the right outfit.
Accessories
Keep the sporty sunglasses at home and opt for something a bit dressier, like wayfarers, aviators, or other rounded styles. A casual-leaning watch works well (leave the stainless and dress watches at home), and a pocket square can add a bit of color, personality, and polish if you go with a sport coat.
Outfit Combinations
You can mix and match items from the list above. Check out a few simple examples below.
Smart casual: Medium blue linen-blend sport coat, flower print short sleeve button down, cream or light khaki cotton chinos, brown suede loafers, white cotton pocket square
Smart casual 2: Tan cotton sport coat, light blue or white short sleeve button down (or polo), light grey linen-cotton chinos, leather derbies
Casual: White seersucker or subtle print cotton button-down (untucked, sleeves rolled up), blue linen pants, brown suede loafers
A tad dressier but still relaxed: Tan linen suit, short-sleeve blue cotton dress shirt, brown suede derbies, navy cotton pocket square
Feel free to come up with your own beach wedding attire for men combinations based on your personal style. And remember to drink lots of water and don’t go too heavy on the booze – it catches up with you a lot easier in the sun and warm weather. No one wants to be remembered as the drunkest guy at the wedding.